Microsoft announced the launch of a dedicated Windows Store for Business back in April, and now, IT professionals can now sign up their businesses via the official site. Windows Store for Business’ is now open in 21 countries around the world which include Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the UK and the US.
The Windows Store for Business is essentially a web portal dedicated to businesses who now have the privilege of more control over acquiring, managing and distributing Windows Store apps easily across the organization. It will allow IT professionals and managers to easily streamline, purchase and distribute apps to businesses, along with the ability to purchase multiple licenses of any single or multiple apps in one transaction. Moreover, organizations can also invite developers to create line-of-business apps for their business.
Microsoft also says that this initial release of Windows Store for Business will only support free apps, though support for paid apps and in-app purchases will are planned for a future release.
“We recommend you submit these apps for organizational licensing now, which will allow these apps to be available to organizations when we add support for paid content,” explains Microsoft.
Some of the key features of Windows Store for business include:
- Bulk app acquisition
- Offline licensing model that allows distribution of apps without connecting to the store and provides flexibility on how you deploy apps across your business
- Automatic app updates for apps with online licenses
- Clean app uninstall process
In addition, Windows Store for Business also offers a slew of handy distributing features that include:
- Direct assignment to individuals and teams via Windows Store for Business
- Placing the app in their private store page in Windows Store for users to find and download
- Using a third-party management solution
To sign up for the new Windows Store for Business, IT professionals just need to head over to the store’s official website.
